80 per cent electorate cast ballot in J&K panchayat polls

KASHMIR-PANCHAYAT
Srinagar, Jun 19 (PTI) Barring the killing of a woman
panch candidate, the Panchayat elections in north India state
Jammu and Kashmir came to an end with nearly 80 per cent
electorate exercising their franchise amidst militant threats
and boycott calls by separatists.
Although polling will be held in Zanskar area of
Ladakh region on June 27, the elections in rest of the state
came to an end Saturday, pulling curtains on the two-month
long 16-phase process which began on April 13.
Polling was postponed in Zanskar, with just over
12,000 voters, as the area is still cut off by snow
accumulated during winter.
State Chief Election Officer B R Sharma told PTI that
79 per cent voters cast their votes to elect the grassroots
level representatives across the state.
Over 4100 sarpanches and nearly 30,000 panches have
been elected in the 16-phase panchayat elections.
Besides affirming their belief in democratic process,
the voters, especially in Kashmir, also demonstrated the
communal harmony in the valley as 25 Sikhs and two Kashmiri
Pandits were elected as panches in areas mostly inhabited by
Muslims.
While panchayat elections were held peacefully across
the state, the only blemish remained the killing of a woman
panch in Pakherpora area of central Kashmir's Budgam district.
Hasina Akhtar was shot dead by gunmen on April 15 but
police is investigating other angles to the murder other than
militancy.
The panchayat elections were held on non-party basis
which has given an opportunity to all the political parties to
claim victory.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led the charge by
claiming that the ruling National Conference has been routed
in the elections as candidates backed by the opposition party
have swept the polls in Kashmir.
National Conference and its coalition partner
Congress, on the other hand, are claiming a victory of their
own.
To support their claims, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah,
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Pradesh Congress Committee
(PCC) president Saifuddin Soz have held series of meetings
with newly-elected panches and sarpanches over the past eight
weeks.
Interestingly, the panchs and sarpanchs have displayed
far more political maturity than the parties as they have met
everyone who came calling.
For example, Omar, Mehbooba and Soz met the panchs and
sarpanchs in Ganderbal within a span of one week of the
elections.
The last Panchayat elections were held in 2001 but
polls could not be conducted in many areas of north Kashmir
due to security reasons.
The last full panchayat election in the state was held
33 years ago. PTI MIJ
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